Previews

Sniper Elite

Namco enters the World War II fray with a unique take on the genre. Yep, there's actually one left out there.

Spiffy:

An original take on WWII; good detail and customizability.

Iffy:

It's still WWII; sniping-heavy gameplay may be limiting.

Namco has been one of the savviest Japanese publishers at maintaining popularity and excitement with stateside gamers. But it's clear the company recognizes that western-developed games that wouldn't fly in Japan should be on the agenda, too, and that brings us to Sniper Elite. Although the military shooter genre took a brief tour of duty in Vietnam, it's no surprise that we've returned to the relative comfort-zone of World War II. And so Namco's latest game and first attempt at the genre -- being developed in the UK by Rebellion -- should draw from the most popular war in gaming.

As the title suggests, this game puts you in the boots of an American sniper. The twist on the plot is that the main character is actually posing as a member of the German army -- as the war draws to a close, the U.S. is concerned with keeping the ultimate spoils of the war out of the hands of the competition. Thus, it's your job to sneak into hotbeds of intrigue, snipe the enemy, and protect elite American agents and soldiers so they can complete their devious tasks. It's a little high concept -- but you've got to admit, just about everything else has been done.

In the demo available for play at Namco's pre-E3 event, the main character was deployed to a tower to take out some German soldiers in a courtyard to provide cover to another American solider. As you'd expect, you have an excellent vantage point on the action, and the game throws different situations at you: bits of cover, bunkers, and the like. It's up to you to perform the perfect snipe. Once you complete your objectives, you can back up the other American soldier how you see fit, by either leaving your vantage and covering his escape with a machinegun, taking out soldiers in a much more hands-on fashion, or keeping your perch and sniping any foes that appear.

As the sniping is the core of the gameplay, it's rendered much more faithfully than in most games. Depending on what level of difficulty and complexity you configure, you have to watch out for things like wind and even exhalation -- real snipers exhale, and hold their breath, before taking a shot. While these options can make the game difficult for novices, hardcore gamers will appreciate them -- and, of course, you can turn them all on and off individually, depending on the level of realism you crave.